Most prized high-school basketball recruits spend the summer before senior year frantically deliberating with parents and coaches about which colleges they should consider visiting and which ones they should cross off their ever-growing lists. But by early July, 6-foot-1 point guard Zack Rosen had already narrowed his list down to one: Penn.

Joe Sandberg is out for now. The senior tailback hasn't yet shaken the stiffness out of his leg, and his status for Saturday's game against Villanova is "doubtful."

Going back to my freshman year, Penn has played Villanova three times each in football and basketball. Those six meetings all have two things in common: They were all played here on Penn's campus, and they were all Wildcats victories. That's right; six big, fat losses, right in our own backyard.

Although Tobi Olopade's accomplishments freshman year as a dual-sport, walk-on athlete are already impressive, he wants to have a greater impact on the soccer team in the coming years.

Braden Lepisto's hold was wobbly, and the first field-goal attempt of freshman kicker Andrew Samson's Penn career plonked off the upright on Saturday. Right away, Quakers coach Al Bagnoli realized he hadn't given enough thought to one variable. It was Lepisto's first hold in a game since his sophomore year of high school.

Joe Sandberg's hamstring injury in the opener against Lafayette could have been a costly one for Penn, depending on the evaluation. And while the result wasn't all rosy for the Quakers, the team can breathe a deep sigh of relief. "He didn't pull anything -- he just hasn't practiced much and his leg got fatigued," coach Al Bagnoli said yesterday.

They've been heating up halftimes at the Palestra since 2001. But the Quaker Girls dance team has one request: Please don't confuse them with the cheerleading squad.

Dartmouth alum makes Olympics Jarrod Shoemaker might have counted his 2002 Heptagonal championship in cross country as one of his greatest achievements. He's got something a little more notable now. Shoemaker ran the ITU BG Beijing World Cup triathlon in 1:49:44, good for 11th overall.

The Patriot League already has more wins over the Ivy League than it compiled during the entire 2006 season. Fordham, Colgate, Holy Cross, Lafayette and Lehigh won on Saturday, at the expense of Columbia, Dartmouth, Harvard, Penn and Princeton, respectively.

Though senior guard Brian Grandieri won't be around past the 2008-09 season, the Penn basketball team might have found the right guy to fill his shoes. Rob Belcore, a 6-foot-5 guard from Loyola Academy in Chicago, has become the second high school senior known to commit to Penn, joining 6-1 point guard Zack Rosen of St.

Running in a race as long as a half-marathon (a whopping 13.1 miles) requires much more than God-given athleticism and endurance. Running in a half-marathon at any kind of pace requires an intangible element. But for veteran runners like 39-year-old Chad Simpson of Virginia Beach, Va.

After the men's soccer team's season-opening 6-2 loss to Seton Hall, coach Rudy Fuller told his team that that if they worked on their defense, everything else would fall into place. With the defense in order, the Quakers finally managed to show their high-powered offense on Sunday against La Salle.

The Penn Cheerleading team, coached by Joe Neary, has made a nice home for itself on the track behind the Penn bench at Franklin Field. And as the team continues to grow in size and scope, there's a good chance that its appearances might not be limited solely to Penn sporting events.

A day punctuated by dismal offense on both sides ended with Lafayette hitting its stride at the worst possible time, handing the Quakers an 8-7 loss in their season opener.

And after a disappointing 0-4 start to the season, a little bit of traction early in the Ivy slate was just what the Quakers were looking for.

The Penn volleyball team went to Washington D.C. and got what it came for - its first win. The Quakers (3-4) beat Lafayette 3-0 on Friday at the American University Tournament but didn't stop there. They went on to sweep both Army and Navy before falling to American in five games in the finals to take second place in the tournament.

The Penn women's soccer team was going for a first this weekend by handing Northwestern its first loss at its brand new stadium, Lakeside Field. But the Quakers would have to settle for a draw. Penn and Northwestern played to a 1-1 tie on Friday night, but the Quakers made sure not to leave the Windy City without a victory as they blew away Loyola-Chicago yesterday, 5-1.